12 Killed in Tripoli Clashes as Politicians Lift Political Cover off Gunmen
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Twelve people were killed and more than 40 people were injured in renewed clashes between the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods of the northern city of Tripoli, Beirut media reported on Saturday.
Among the dead were a woman and her son, killed by a rocket in the Bab al-Tebanneh district, a mostly Sunni Muslim community which supports Syria's anti-regime opposition.
At least five were wounded in Jabal Mohsen, an area mainly populated by pro-Damascus Alawites.
A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Najib Miqati agreed on lifting the political cover off the gunmen and demanded the army and security forces to control the situation.
The meeting was held at Miqati’s residence in Tripoli and attended by the northern city’s ministers and MPs and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.
Smoke was seen billowing from several apartments near the city's Syria street, the split between Bab Tabbaneh neighborhood and the adjacent, Jabal Mohsen, on a hill overlooking its rival. The area around Syria Street was mostly empty and gunmen were seen roaming the streets.
A security meeting at the Serail of Tripoli, chaired by head of the Tripoli's gendarmerie, Brig. Gen. Bassam Ayoubi, agreed on the deployment of the internal security forces in the two neighborhoods.
However, they failed to maintain a ceasefire in the area.
The overnight battles with Rocket Propelled Grenades and machineguns calmed by 5:00 am but intermittent sniper fire continued throughout the day, leaving Khaled al-Rifai dead.
Eight people were injured overnight, two of them seriously, in the fighting between the rival neighborhoods, the National News Agency said earlier.
The news agency also said a house owned by Abdul Rahman Hamad was engulfed in flames in the area of Starco in Bab al-Tabbaneh when it was hit with an RPG.
Earlier, Miqati held phone conversations with the chiefs of security agencies, urging them not to be tolerant with those who tamper with security in Tripoli.
He also called on them to intensify measures to restore calm in the city.
Sectarian violence has flared on a number of occasions in Tripoli since the revolt broke out in neighboring Syria in March 2011, including deadly street battles in May that erupted over the controversial arrest of Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi, who was released last week..
Bab al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen have been gripped by frequent fighting, reflecting a split between Lebanon's parties where the March 14- led opposition backs the revolt in Syria while a ruling coalition led by Hizbullah supports the Damascus regime.
02 June 2012, 09:00
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Arafouna.... Se3a Islamiyiine, se3a Salafists, se3a Al Qaeda, se3a Fath el Islam...
I really feel bad for the citizens of Tripoly, the true residents of this grand city, the well educated, open minded, moderate Lebanese.
The army needs to sweep clean Tripoli from these vicious few.
02 June 2012, 10:51
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Amazing how easy the lebanese can be manipulated. Don't blame any country for your problems. The problem is none of you are lebanese. Shiaa belongs to Iran. Sunnis to KSA, gulf states, and the Christians are the crusaders from Europe.
02 June 2012, 12:55
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u speak about the crusaders as if they were all bad people,no,they believed in their religion to liberate jerusalem from the "infidels",like the shia of wilayat el faqih .. like the sunnis of MR wahhab or the salafis...but the only difference is the TIME, THE CHRISTIAN EVOLVED TO modern civic countries and new scientific era.. and the moslems with all their different tribes are still 1400 years late.. and they are stuck there.
02 June 2012, 12:57
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Middle east christians are a minority among the worlds christians. Christianity spread to the world via european christians, not the middle eastern christians. Prophet Jesus was only sent to the ancient israelites as it says both in the bible and the quran. The gentile europeans then changed his message and spread it to the world as a new religion. Prophet Muhammad is the only prophet sent to all of mankind.
02 June 2012, 14:48
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Well Maronites came from Syria...
..just wanted to spice up your useless discussion. Lebanese are Lebanese wherever we came from.
Ethnically, some of us crossing the religious boundaries are descendants to the Phoenicians. Others, with Lebanon being in the middle of big empires struggles, are from 60 different "countries" of today. the Christians living in Lebanon ( most of them) are not the same that lived here in pre Islamic times.
Muslims. Some of them are Turks, some saudi, some phoenicians, some albanian etc etc etc.
today we are Lebanese and Tomorrow, we will support Lebanon against Qatar!
See you in Brazil 2014
02 June 2012, 15:17
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We are Lebanese regardless of what our religious or ethnic background is. It is incorrect to state that the Christians came with the Crusaders. When the crusaders came to Lebanon they expected to find Muslims in the mountains. Instead they were surprised to find Mount Lebanon populated by Christians. The arrival of the Crusaders led to the reestablishing the link between Rome and the Maronites. The link was severed for several hundred year du to the fall of the Byzantine empire to the Muslim Turks. Rome, prior to the arrival of the Crusaders assumed that the Maronites had been massacred or converted to Islam. The Maronites contributed thousands of fighters to the crusaders' effort to capture Jerusalem. These are very well documented historical facts.
02 June 2012, 15:39
21
Cont'...
The statement that none of us is really Lebanese does not hold. We established this country together, but a a few decades after independence we still could not agree on the very identity of Lebanon, and we still don't to this day. We all, I repeat all love Lebanon to death, but our views of what Lebanon is are so extremely apart that there are very few common denominators that allow us to build a strong state. I hope that this makes any sense.
02 June 2012, 17:36
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100% fact. currently reading a non-fictional book on lebanons history and it is stated in it word for word as you said it. From what i'v read it seems the phonecians were the primary occupants and inhabitants of the land before anyone. Mainly in the north around the arz and bcharre
02 June 2012, 17:55
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thats one of the rare times i c a smart exchange (in my humble opinion), ofc that is excluding other comments
02 June 2012, 19:55
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Lol keep forging history. Maronites were viewed as heretics by the crusaders. God, i have never seen anyone lie and make up history as you maronites do.
02 June 2012, 18:29
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If Israel's so busy ethnically cleansing it's population, how is it that Israel is the only country in the middle east where it's indigenous Christian population has increased rather than declined. This not to mention the growth and development of it's Moslem population as well. Your anti-Jewish hatred clouds your ability to see the reality. Your neighbor to the South is developing in peace and security for all it's citizens.
02 June 2012, 19:50
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The point I was trying to make, is all of you accusing each other of not being Lebanese and belonging to someone else. FT you are accused of being Iranian or Syrian by other nationals. lol.
02 June 2012, 19:53
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Yes i do know what i am talking about and i can back it up with the bible, quran and history. You on the other hand have prooven to be the secterian one, your hate for muslims have been displayed in several posts so just be quite and zip it.
02 June 2012, 20:04
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mr illiterate, the christians are crusaders from europe? christianity began in the middle east and we did not come from anywhere but the middle east!
03 June 2012, 08:04
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It is people like you abdallah4 who, by doing all you can to deny our history and identity push us to isolationism and distrust of muslims. There is a dirty undertone of "one day you'll be muslims. One day you'll all fall in line" in your post.
So you zip it yourself, mamluk.
02 June 2012, 15:34
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The dying Syrian regime has no other place to try to salvage itself except lebanon.
Assad hopes that by inflaming a sectarian war, led by Sunni extremists that his regime implanted in lebanon, he could vindicate his crimes by proving the claims that he is the defender of all against Sunni extremism.
02 June 2012, 17:03
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but the main cause of division are the illegal weapons from your allies that FPM supports....
02 June 2012, 18:03
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Peace Hezbollah's weapons is a major cause of division among the Lebanese and, fo example, is the reason why FT and myself are in opposite political camps. But it is not the main reason for our divisions. Mark my words: the day Hezbollah's weapons are gone, you will see Lebanese bicker about something even more fundamental and that is the identity of Lebanon. There are very very sharp disagreements over this very important and fundamental principal, and it boils down to one thing: Arabism VS Nationalism.
With the M14 alliance there ars sharp disagreements on this issues but they are put aside in order to face up to Hezbollah and the Syrian threat. (con't)
02 June 2012, 18:03
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(con't)
But Every time I hear Hariri say "Arabism", I cringe. It is not me or my village or my history he is talking about. He is shoving another identity dow my throat. When I hear Sami Gemayel say "my Identity is Maronite, Syriac, Christian, and Lebanese", I feel his is standing up and defending who I am. So you see, it is much more complicated than Hezbollah's arm.
02 June 2012, 19:59
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Lol syriac? The biggest maronite families in lebanon came from yemen and are arabs. The real syriacs still speak syriac whereas maronites only speak arabic as a native language.
02 June 2012, 20:36
02
abdallah4 I'd love to know what you historical references are. I never heard such a theory in any work that has any academical merit.
At the time of the crusaders, Syriac was spoken in mount Lebanon. this is amply documented in manuscripts archived both in Bkerki and Rome, and in several historical essays. Furthermore, are you aware that Maronite liturgy is in Syriac, and the that language is perserved and alive and well in our monasteries? The Lebanese spoken today, specially in Mount Lebanon, is much closer to Syriac / Aramaic than to Arabic.
What does "baddé rouh 3al Beit" has to do with "Ourido ann athhabou ilalbeit"?
02 June 2012, 16:29
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Strong measures have to be taken against the thugs and outlaws ya Mikati. Strong measures have to be taken against those hiding the 4 saints ya Mikati. Strong measures have to be taken against those who have killed officer Hanna in his helicopter ya Mikati. Against those who have killed the sheikh in Akkar ya Mikati. Against those who have beaten a priest in Jbeil and stolen church property and public property ya Mikati. Against those who have humliated the army in Chyah 2 years ago ya Mikati. This is what will restore state authority ya Mikati. Where will you be a candidate in the next elections ya Mikati !
02 June 2012, 17:03
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A Lebanese is someone that believes in the sanctity of the Lebanese flag, sings the Lebanese national anthem, defend its borders from all enemies (Israeli, Syrian, or anyone else, believes in one strong state and one strong army, puts Lebanon, its people, and interests above all else. Maybe one word would cover all of the above (Patriotic)..... then your religion does not matter. Unfortunately we have too many traitors who put religious affiliations above their Lebanese nationality and hence our foreign allegiances. Get rid of such people or re-educate them ... tarbeyet watanyet) .....
02 June 2012, 19:38
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You can not isolate Lebanon from the rest of the middle east. You will be weak, stepped over and "isolated". This is not the world we live in. You MUST unite with the people you live with in the region you live in.
I do not want to go into history many centuries ago because most of it is not relevant. The First Gentile Christians were in Antioch, Syria in the first century. Antioch became the center of Christianity in the middle east before spreading to Europe. Antioch, Syria was until recently the headquarters for ALL the middle eastern Churches. Western Christians were and still have always been racists to other Christians. The crusaders massacred thousands of Armenians and other Eastern Christians when they invaded our lands. In America, even though the racist white man forced the black slaves to become Christians, it never gave them freedom from slavery. Those who align themselves with imperialists from other continents will never have a future in the region they live in.
02 June 2012, 18:59
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ce n'est pas acceptable, ceci a trop dure', le president, le gouvernemrnt, le chef de l'armee et de tous les services de securite' doivent etre renvoyes et tenus responsables des morts de tripoli.
02 June 2012, 19:02
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ce n'est pas le travail de la police mais de l'armee, on parle d'une vrai guerre. On n'entend pas parler du ministre de defence, je ne sais meme pas son nom. le chef de l'armee ne veux pas se salir les mains car il veut devenir president.
02 June 2012, 19:06
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pourtant ce n'est pas complique' plus cela dure plus difficile il sera de l'arreter. il faut mettre en prison le chef des alaouite M. Eid, et arreter trois ou quatre chef de bande de l'autre cote' pour que tout le monde sache que l'etat existe. les autres se calmeront.
02 June 2012, 19:09
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une drniere chose, toute les fois on nous dit que l'armee va entrer sur la ligne de demarcation, Bob Dieu, pourquoi il n'y reste pas une fois pour toute. il n'ya pas mieux a faire ces jour-ci
02 June 2012, 19:29
01
@jabal, I agree that there are more fundamental issues than Hezbollah's arms, and that Lebanon has lost its identity. People refer to themselves as which religion they are from, and differentiate themselves on that basis.
I come from a Christian family, and when I hear a leader speak of standing up for Christians, I cringe, you know why? Because that leader is speaking in the name of one camp only, and not in the name of others, and if the fundamental problem of Lebanon is division, then I'd rather have a leader speak in the name of all, that is able to unite all.
Could anyone point to me a politician that could do this? Hariri? No. Sayyed Hassan? No. Geagea? Definitely not. Jumblatt? No. Aoun? No. They all mention here and there some sectarian rhetoric, and yet we all continue to follow them. It saddens me.
02 June 2012, 19:33
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Politicians from all camps have come to govern, and yet look where we are: the same place we were in 1975, with no progress, none. We're still talking about the same issues we've been talking about before (Hezbollah's arms, Israel, Syrian hegemony, sectarian conflicts). What progress have we made? We have made none, and we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Our Arab Spring should be in the form of holding ALL politicians accountable, and to start a new party, a LEBANESE party, the Party of Lebanon, filled with all sects, that would work to actually make progress and provide water and electricity and work on the economy. As this happens, people become more educated and are thus more able to deal with our other issues.
03 June 2012, 01:36
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gcb1... despite the moderate tone of your comment, the awesome logic of your thoughts, and the patriotic feelings expressed ... some loser gave you a thumb down. This loser is why Lebanon is in such a bad shape. There are actually lots of people who support corruption, wasta, foreign allegiances, and so on.
We can not change such people, but we can forge ahead with the thoughts you expressed. I agree, a grass root movement that inspires all the true and patriotic Lebanese is the only salvation. Something by the people for the people with allegiance to the Lebanese flag and Liberty and Justice for all.
03 June 2012, 08:38
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gcb: I agree that none of the politicians that you mentioned above is in a postion to unite the country. As must as I support the Hakim, I wouldn't want to see him in Baabda. He is a polarizing figure without even trying to be one. But please listen: The Christians of Lebanon are under threat and need strong leadership. I am not talking about military threat! No one's going to through us in the Mediterranean. It is not that. What I am saying is that the current political / cultural / economic situation is pushing more and more Christians to leave and is preventing thousands upon thousands of Christians in the diaspora from returning. this is what I'm talking about when I say that Christians need strong leadership. Christian unity must NEVER come at the expense of Lebanese unity, but as a guarantee of the unity of Lebanon. Christians are a key component of Lebanon. It is a fragile component and must be protected.
02 June 2012, 19:47
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You all are talking religion while religion has nothing to do with country. quit it and care about Lebanon if you have a Lebanese Identity card you all are living in the same house. its Lebanon. Love it or leave it. This is the 21st century people . WAKE UP. Before you become refugees in other countries. Who cares where our ancesters came from. Now we have a country it belongs to all of us equaly. Most of us want freedom and peace. Enough wars enough ehough.
02 June 2012, 19:47
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Cont. A small country like Lebanon can never be for Isolationism. Just imagine the US if it only consist of 1 state Rhode Island instead of 50 states.
02 June 2012, 20:07
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at the end of the day, the title says 10 people killed but then mentions only a mom and her son...
at the end of the day, the fighting has been going on for years, and the army and security forces promise every time to deploy and stop the killing. what have they done to stop it? nothing! you stop the killing by confiscating all the weapons from all the people in lebanon including hizbullah and then no one can shoot another person without the weapons. they can use a sword or a knife and nothing else...
02 June 2012, 21:03
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Ya A3mi where is the Army , Tripoli is becoming Kandahar ya Jama3a,,,, We look great in front of the world , where Lebanon is expected to be Paris of the Middle EAST , Walaw
03 June 2012, 08:25
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The army is weak. Undertrained, poorly equipped and most importantly poorly supported on the political level. We badly need:
1. A government of national unity made in Lebanon, not in Damascus or Paris or Teheran or Washington!
2. To merge Hezbollah's military wing with the army and put it strictly under Army command.
An army with solid political guidance and skilled, experienced fighting units will stand a much better chance to stabilize the country allow us to move forward. It will also be able to effectively defend our borders. All of our borders.
Don't count on our politicians to achieve this, though. This has to come from the people. The people must unite. We need to bypass the politicians and take matters in our own hands and reclaim our country. When we united in 2005, the Syrians left. Why? because when a people unites, the world listens. When a people is divided, the world shrugs.
Why don't we unite again and make it happen.
02 June 2012, 21:39
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abdallah4 you say christians have changed there religion you are the dumbest person ive meet but then again you are muslim and only read your quarn actucally you dont read it it gets read to you!.as your prohpet being the last Jesus the SON OF GOD warned us of a peodiphile prophet who will marry a 8 year old girl and rape murder wait that sounds like a Muslim Terroist group.Jesus Son Of GOD preached in peace and died for our sins what has your devil religion prohpet done that was good for the human race beside let you kill in the name of your DEVIL!Long Live The Syrian Civil War.
02 June 2012, 23:07
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AFP: Rahim Safavi warned that the whole of Israel was within range of the missiles of Hezbollah, Iran's Shiite militia allies in Lebanon, and that US forces in the region were vulnerable.
"They have thousands of missiles ... (Hezbollah chief) Hassan Nasrallah is a soldier of the supreme leader ... All places in the Zionist entity are within missile range,"
03 June 2012, 01:29
02
God help the nations whose politicians are able to place or remove a cover of gunmen. Arrest the gunmen and the politicians. What a zoo.
03 June 2012, 05:19
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It'a amazing to see conservative and fundamental thinking Christians opposed by equaly conservative muslims... And you decide to start history where your religion began... Lovely country! I was born in a maronite family, saw the dirty civil war as a kid but fled and grew up outside Lebanon as an atheist... All these fairy tales you still believe in, from all books of faith, are leading you to self destruction and amazing hatred toward whoever opposes your views... You argue using ideas coming from ancient and primitive times when human education was below zero and defend them as if they were scientific facts... The whole advanced world got over these myths and you are still dying for them! Believe me, I got cured from the silly brain wash of religion... Get over it! You wear fancy cloths but think like people from the middle ages or antiquity! Just get over it and you will see how bright your days will become and how dark your past was!
03 June 2012, 07:39
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you are all idiots and need to get a life.
while ppl all over the world work and make a living, u spend ur time here and talk shit to one another.
grow up idiots, it is the likes of YOU who destroy this country!
start working regardless of religion and sects and al that crap they make u believe in! stop blaming each other like 10 year olds!
